Chapter 428: The Five Tribes' Joint Assault

The torrential rain slowed the construction of forts and the clearing of forests.

Wu Tie gained useful information from the captured stone giant, but as the stone giant held low status in its tribe, his knowledge was mostly common; nevertheless, it allowed Wu Tie and Pei Feng to deepen their understanding of the Five Elements Spirits.

This is definitely not a tribe that can be easily conquered.

Even the Wood Spirits that fought Pei Feng for years, inflicting heavy losses on the Black Phoenix Army, were merely one of the middling tribes among the dozens of Wood Spirit tribes in this forest.

According to the stone giant, the population of the Five Elements Spirits is related to the amount of the corresponding elemental power.

Since the forest abounds in trees, the Wood Spirits are the most numerous.

Besides trees, the forest has the most mountains, so the Earth Spirits to which the stone giant belongs rank second in number.

Next, the Water Spirits rank third in total number; the Metal Spirits that dwell in underground metal veins rank fourth; and the Fire Spirits gathered in the magma seas of several volcanic craters are the fewest.

Although the Five Elements' powers mutually generate one another, and the Five Elements Spirits share a strange link—each tribe possesses roughly the same total amount of its corresponding elemental power—thus, broadly speaking, the Wood Spirits, being the most numerous, have the weakest individual strength.

On average, an Earth Spirit is much stronger than a Wood Spirit; the elite combat power of Water Spirits exceeds that of Earth Spirits; the elite combat power of Metal Spirits far surpasses that of Water Spirits; and undoubtedly, the Fire Spirits, being the fewest in number, possess the greatest individual combat strength and the fiercest killing power.

In any case, the more they learned, the greater the psychological pressure on Wu Tie and Pei Feng.

The Five Elements Spirits watch over and aid each other, sharing breath and branch—absolutely not an easy foe. Yet the shortest, safest secret route plotted by the Secret Mechanism Hall must pass through their territory.

After all, the Five Elements Spirits are a humanoid tribe with enough intelligence to negotiate.

Other barbaric mountains are even more dangerous; according to the Secret Mechanism Hall's scouts, nightmare‑level horrors have been seen there—passing through, exceptional individuals might survive, but a large force has no hope.

The greater the psychological pressure on Wu Tie and Pei Feng, the more cautious their actions became.

Thus, Wu Tie secretly ordered the Great Marsh Prefecture Army and the Black Phoenix Army to slow their fort‑building pace even further. While the laborers built the forts, he tripled the troops sent out, and Black Phoenix commanders lurked unseen to keep watch.

After two days like this, the foundations of the two newest forts had not even been laid.

Sima You and his entourage were not utterly useless; with a reminder from their subordinates, they immediately noticed Wu Tie's loafing.

In the pouring rain, a group of clan generals led by Sima You came to Wu Tie's camp, slammed the table and berated him. Though they knew his combat ability was extraordinary and now needed his help, they dared not shout insults, yet their words were far from pleasant.

Wu Tie calmly looked at Sima You and his men, then recounted the stone giant's testimony in full detail.

"Wood Spirits are not a solitary tribe; they form a complete, peculiarly complex ethnic community." Wu Tie said solemnly: "I must answer for the lives of my men and make them prepare defenses."

Sima You and his companions regarded Wu Tie with disbelief; Sima Xin said coldly: "They're nothing but lowly scum—if they die, they die; the Great Jin has countless such people to replace them at any time."

Wu Tie glanced at Sima Xin, said nothing about his 'scum' remark, then slammed the table and sneered: "Fine, well spoken—lives of scum are worthless; please, General Sima Xin, reinforce me with enough troops."

Wu Tie said sternly: "However many troops you send, I will send that many out… but my forces can only increase, never decrease. Don't think I'll lose men for nothing; if I lose one, you must supply two."

Sima Xin stared, about to say it was impossible, when Wu Tie cut him off harshly: "In short, either you send your people to stand guard while I urge the laborers to work overtime, or my troops go on the adventure—but if one is wounded or killed, you must replace them with two; otherwise, don't expect me to foolishly cripple my own martial arts."

Sima You and his companions looked at each other, speechless.

According to Wu Tie's saying, losing one soldier means gaining two—wouldn't his forces grow the more he fights? How could that be done? Leaving aside their private relations, just looking at Wu Tie's rank, he is only a third‑rank general.

What great size could you expect from a mere Great Marsh Prefecture's army?

But if they refuse Wu Tie's terms, having them drive their own soldiers forward to stand guard……

"Heh," how could that be possible?

Besides the hundred thousand elite troops directly under the Secret Mechanism Hall, this force is Sima You's core, not lightly moved; the other hundreds of thousands of soldiers are merely the private elite troops dispatched by these clan aristocratic families.

Every soldier is their private property; how could they possibly sacrifice their own interests for nothing?

"General Huo Xiong, please put the interests of Great Jin first." Sima You said dryly, beginning to press them with righteousness.

"Great Jin's interests are important… but my own Huo Xiong's interests cannot be harmed!" If Sima You tries to overwhelm them with righteousness, Wu Tie can match him with utter shamelessness.

He suddenly tore open his clothes, revealing the dense scars covering his chest.

Various blade and spear wounds stood out starkly; Wu Tie's chest was riddled with a thousand holes, looking as ferocious as one could imagine.

Pei Feng beside him helplessly closed her eyes.

Two days earlier, that astonishingly powerful Water Spirit struck Wu Tie in the chest; Pei Feng saw clearly as his flesh and blood flew apart, exposing bone.

Wu Tie invoked the power of the Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir, instantly healing his chest wounds; the new flesh was smooth, and Pei Feng observed carefully—there was not a scar, as smooth and pink as a newborn baby.

Now his chest is covered in scars, a gruesome sight like wood carved by a clumsy artisan—truly shocking and indescribably hideous.

"General Huo Xiong has bled for Great Jin, been wounded for Great Jin, lived and died for Great Jin, a veteran of a hundred battles. Who dares say he does not put Great Jin's interests first?" Wu Tie and Pei Feng, already in perfect accord, had him reveal his wound, whereupon she spoke up at once.

"General Huo Xiong loves his soldiers as his own children—a quality a great general should have." Pei Feng said coldly: "My father once said that a commander who treats his troops as brothers will earn their loyalty and make them face death willingly; if he treats them like hounds and hawks, they will secretly resent him and be useless in battle."

"You all come from noble clans, of exalted lineage, and have studied military texts since childhood—how could you not even grasp the basics of commanding troops?" Pei Feng shifted tone, easily slapping the hat of 'useless waste, ignorant of military affairs' onto the heads of Sima You and his entourage.

Sima You and his companions opened their mouths, but the splendid coordination of Wu Tie and Pei Feng left them unable to speak.

In an instant, Sima Xin, Sima Hu and the others felt a wretched thought: 'You couple, so perfectly in sync—heh, you're done for… If Sima Lang knew what's happening here, heaven only knows what he'd do.'

If securing the secret passage didn't still require Wu Tie to risk life and limb, and if he still had a bit of use, Sima Xin would almost certainly have sent a message to Sima Lang: 'Hey, the women you're after are all running off with others—are you scared? Are you panicking?'

Of course, they can't do that right now.

Sima You fell silent for a long time, then finally slammed the table: 'Fine, our troops will go forward, but we must speed up—even in the rainy season we must keep sufficient advance momentum. Dozens of Wood Spirit tribes? Just empty bluster.'

Sima You said solemnly: 'Brothers, send word to your own clans… the private elite troops are fine as is, but you can send more slaves and those foreign private armies; slaves, after all, are worthless.'

Sima Xin and his companions glanced at each other and simultaneously agreed.

This group of clan generals could summon seven or eight kings of Great Jin behind them, and dozens of ducal‑level dignitaries.

Each of their fiefdoms stretches tens of millions of li, with populations numbering in the hundreds of millions.

Vast lands, countless subjects, raising slaves of every kind too numerous to count—dispatching some slaves to fight and die in these mountains is also worthwhile to them.

However, Sima You had not forgotten Wu Tie; he fixed his gaze on him and said solemnly: 'General Huo Xiong, opening the secret passage is not just our affair. You are the general specially appointed by the Secret Mechanism Hall to cooperate with us—you must exert all the strength you possess.'

Sima You's words were sufficiently penetrating.

He almost came right out and said to Wu Tie: 'We know you have a powerful backer; you must also bring that backing's power to bear!'

Wu Tie gave a 'heh' of a simple, honest smile, unpretentious and sincere—he neither nodded nor shook his head, just smiled.

Pei Feng also laughed lightly, her smile sweet and alluring.

Having known him for so long, Pei Feng saw that Huo Xiong was no honest simpleton; he harbored a belly full of dirty tricks.

A group of people, each laughing with their own purpose, were laughing happily, when the entire conference hall was filled with awkward laughter, Wu Tie suddenly changed expression, and Pei Feng shouted loudly: "What a formidable method!"

Two 'whoosh' sounds, Wu Tie and Pei Feng simultaneously put on their own armor.

Sima You and the others still hadn't figured out what had happened when the beast-oil torches on the walls of the council hall simultaneously spewed blazing flames; the flame, originally over a foot high, suddenly shot up over ten zhang, and the flames surged along the walls onto the ceiling, then turned into a terrifying sea of fire beneath the ceiling.

Amidst the 'whoosh' sounds, over ten fire spirits, their bodies engulfed in blazing flames and standing over three zhang tall, darted out of the sea of fire; they simultaneously opened their mouths, and a nearly transparent pale-green flame 'whoosh' shot out from their mouths, instantly engulfing the nearest few clan officers in a scream.

Fortunately, these fellows possessed high-grade defensive secret treasures; amid flashing spiritual light, they were merely scorched into blisters by the intense flames, then wrapped tightly in layers of radiant mist.

Then, the emergency translocation talismans they carried specifically for preserving life activated simultaneously; a few people's bodies shuddered, and they vanished without a trace in a strand of light.

Sima You and the others simultaneously activated their defensive secret treasures; as the scorching flames swept over, they had no intention of fighting the over ten fire spirits to the death, each crushing their emergency translocation talismans and instantly escaping without a trace.

Only Wu Tie, Pei Feng, and over ten stalwart generals of the Black Phoenix Army remained in the council hall.

Wu Tie let out a long whistle, and the Heavenly Way Divine Soldiers' Muni Treasure Pearl sprayed from his mouth, emitting a radiance of ten thousand zhang that enveloped the entire hall.

In an instant, the smoke and fire in the hall vanished, the five-element elemental power was firmly restrained, and the flames on the bodies of the over ten three-zhang-tall fire spirits dissipated by half, revealing their scorching, blood-glass-like transparent forms.

"You lot are dirt poor, naked as the day you were born, not a single treasure on you..." Wu Tie unleashed the Muni Treasure Pearl to immobilize the over ten fire spirits; the awesome might of the Heavenly Way Divine Soldiers left him astonished: "But I'm different—have you seen this treasure?"

The Immortal-binding Rope transformed into over ten strands of golden light that shot from his sleeves, instantly entangling those fire spirits.

Wu Tie loudly said: "How impressive, truly impressive—although my camp hasn't activated all its formation restrictions, the everyday warning formations are still active… You actually slipped right through those warning formations, using the beast-oil torches to sneak in… Impressive, truly impressive!"

Wu Tie and Pei Feng both wore expressions of admiration, while Uncle Ma and the others beside them were horrified, their faces twisted.

The Black Phoenix Army's stalwart generals were formidable body cultivators, versed in various violent close-combat divine abilities; but their other divine arts and techniques could only be described as abysmal, their evasion skills were pathetic—each was essentially a close-combat killing embryo, utterly ignorant of profound secret techniques.

These fire spirits avoided the warning formations of the Cave Heaven Military Camp, directly passing through the flames on the torches, and forcibly invaded the camp using fire evasion!

In Uncle Ma and the others' minds, this method was practically divine.

"Impressive, truly impressive." Uncle Ma and several stalwart generals praised nonstop, their bodies trembling slightly: "These five-element spirits, they truly are……"

The entire camp shuddered once.

"I… damn!" Wu Tie felt a tremendous surge of earth power rolling toward him.

He flashed out of the council hall, a golden light flickered beneath his feet, and he shot up to a thousand zhang high, gazing off into the distance.

He saw that, a hundred li away, the large and small peaks trembled violently; stone giants ranging from a minimum height of five hundred zhang to a maximum of around one thousand zhang let out low roars, revealing their forms from the shattered peaks.

These stone giants numbered over ten thousand, packed together densely, truly covering the heavens and earth, their numbers astonishing.

A torrential downpour fell, countless raindrops striking these giants, the hazy water mist obscuring their bodies, making them resemble colossal divine demons and emphasizing their vast numbers, too many to count.

Amid the shimmering rain curtain, individual water spirits continually leapt out, then took their places on the heads, shoulders, and even on the protruding stone blocks of these colossal stone giants.

Soon, the stone giants' bodies were covered with transparent, rippling water spirits, as if they had donned armor formed of condensed water waves.

The constant 'swish-swish' sound filled the air as green silhouettes darted from all directions; countless wood spirits gathered in the forests, almost condensing into tangible killing intent that made Wu Tie's face change.

Within a radius of several hundred li of forest, who knows how many wood spirits had gathered; at a glance, the woods were nothing but flickering silhouettes.

In the high sky, figures appeared, their bodies emanating sharp, fierce blades.

Their bodies were slender, entirely silver-white, about two and a half zhang tall, with stiff, fierce features; they felt like individual human-shaped swords.

"These must be metal spirits, right?"

"Definitely metal spirits!"

"Together with the over ten fire spirits immobilized in the camp by the Muni Treasure Pearl, the five-element spirits were now all assembled."